In the game of golf, a golf club is swung at a stationary ball with the aim of advancing the ball toward a target. The golf swing includes a backswing, where the club is drawn back away from the ball and upward, and then a downswing where the club is brought back down and toward the ball. A golf club generally has a shaft with a grip at a butt end and a large clubhead at an opposite end with an approximately planar face for striking the ball. In a successful golf swing, when the club strikes the ball it generally should be perpendicular to the direction to the target. This is referred to as squaring the clubface or hitting on plane, the plane referred to being a plane within which the club moves on the downswing to strike the ball with the clubface square to the target line.
Golfers often expend a lot of time and effort in developing a golf swing that consistently squares the clubface at impact. During the golf swing a golfer's hips, shoulders, hands, and arms, all move at the same time as the golfer brings the clubhead back and then down to impact with the golf ball. To develop a consistent golf swing, several training systems and methods have been developed. Some include a light source associated with a golf club, such as a laser, that shines toward and beyond the clubhead, and a device that shows a preferred path for the light beam and/or the clubhead as the club is swung.